Community-level interactions, such as the mutualistic relationship between Vachellia cornigera and Pseudomyrmex ferrugineus, can be used as an indicator of habitat conditions. This system was studied in experimentally ...

This dissertation concentrates on determining how three competence-specific proteins—ComW, HPF, and YhaM—regulate competence development induced by competence-stimulating peptides in Streptococcus pneumoniae. The first ...

Current ecological restoration and management programs in forests of the Chicago metropolitan region focus on the removal and control of invasive plant species as a high priority. Additional efforts, such as seeding and ...

The current scale of deforestation and decline of tropical forest biodiversity stresses an important need to restore degraded tropical landscapes. This research focuses on highly degraded pasture habitat where tropical ...

Communication between motor neurons and their target muscles is crucial for proper muscle contraction and function. Neurotransmitter acetylcholine mediates this communication. It is released from the motor neuron and binds ...

The Forest refuge hypothesis seem to explain the distribution of African tropical plants. A review of 16 studies established that refugial plant populations are located in putative Pleistocene refugia in tropical Africa, ...

Holarctic warming temperatures are leading to an expansive and rapid greening of the Arctic. Yet herbivores may play a role in mediating shrub expansion. The Arctic ground squirrel is an omnivorous ecosystem engineer with ...

The nervous system of animals underlies our ability to sense and respond to our environment and to learn from these experiences. Neurons within this system process and transmit information to their target cells through the ...

Intraguild predation (IGP) is a ubiquitous omnivory module that can be a bottom-up and top-down force in community structuring. A two-year experiment was completed at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, IL to answer, how does ...

Why do lineages diversify? How do individuals adapt to heterogeneous, changing environments? These seemingly disparate questions are linked across large evolutionary radiations. Improvements in constructing large phylogenies, ...

Biomarkers are molecules whose presence is indicative of some biological phenomena, such as disease or infection. Since their discovery, biomarkers have played a vital role in the development of prognostic and personalized ...

The communication between the epicardium and the underlying myocardium is crucial not only for proper heart development but also for homeostasis and response to injury in the adult heart. Studies of epicardial-myocardial ...

Much of my work is focused on developing techniques and methods to get the most ecologically relevant information as possible from observational data. First, I illustrate common approaches used to analyze camera trap data ...

Free-roaming dogs, Canis lupus familiaris, can be both a public health and conservation concern. Between 2010 and 2013 we identified 2,649 dogs in four rural villages in Tanzania. We characterized dog demography and ownership ...

Heart disease is a top health concern globally, with heart attacks affecting more than seven million people worldwide each year. A heart attack results in the rapid death of heart muscle cells, known as cardiomyocytes. The ...

Active glia-neuron interactions are crucial for the proper development and function of the nervous system. Bidirectional communication between neurons and glial cells has been shown to have modulatory effects on neuronal ...